TWIN LINES
by Syaoran-Lover
Summary: ONESHOT! Hikaru loves Haruhi, Kaoru knows. How will the younger twin deal with the loss of his beloved brother's attention once the latter starts ignoring him? Will it be too late when an accident happens to apologize?


**Ouran Koukou HOST CLUB** fanfiction!

**Disclaimer: **If I owned them, we wouldn't _just_ be teased all the time, and there'd be a lot more skin showing!

**Warnings: **

**1) TWINCEST!** Kaoru x Hikaru! Yes, that means male x male_ AND_ incest (with identical twins, aka _TWINCEST_) at the same time. If you don't like it, I suggest you don't read my Host Club fics, because I, particularly, DO _LOVE_ THESE:D

**2)** But, if you **_do_** like it, hop over to my _Mediaminer_ account on http (COLON) (DOUBLE SLASH) .org (SLASH) fanfic (SLASH) view (UNDERLINE) (QUESTION MARK) id (EQUALS) 129548&submit (EQUALS) View to read the rated MA (R) version of this fic instead! _Fan _does **not** allow explicit content!

**TWIN LINES (ONESHOT)  
**

Haruhi couldn't, for the life of her, figure out what was making Kaoru sigh so much. She had lost count after the sixth time, and that was an hour ago. Considering the younger twin hadn't stopped since them, that gave her a hell lot more of hot air and carbon dioxide than about seventy-five minutes before.

Hikaru's absence could have been the reason, but it still seemed like something the older twin would do, not the quieter younger one. Kaoru was way more level-headed and could be quite normal whenever his counter-part wasn't around, but this new distracted façade wasn't normal for him… and that's what Haruhi was worried about.

Of course, the reason for the missing twin wasn't in her knowledge either. Kaoru wouldn't answer despite her few efforts, so she had decided to stop insisting. According to him, Hikaru wasn't sick, but she had yet to see him show up at Ouran High School, though they were nearing the end of the last class.

It also didn't escape her attention that the younger redhead was out of the classroom the very minute the chiming bell announced the end of the day's lectures.

Little did Haruhi know that she was the center of the problem.

* * *

"Hikaru!" Kaoru yelled as soon as he got back home. "I shouldn't have gone to school without you today! Things were so boring, I couldn't stand it! I even skipped club activities… Kyouya-senpai's going to have our carcasses fried!"

A low voice coming from under his brother's bed covers answered him, "I'm sorry, Kaoru, but I wouldn't be able to face Haruhi, and Tono would know immediately! You know I just realized I'm in love with her, I'll never be able to behave the same way we always have around her again!"

Some silence followed Hikaru's comment, followed by the younger twin's sigh and the latter dropping himself on the former's mattress. "You know, just tell her. If you can't summon that courage yet, at least try not to avoid her or she'll notice something's wrong. It was a real test not to tell her everything today! Haruhi asked about you three or four times, worried. I had to bolt back home once classes were over."

"Sorry." The older one replied, looking hopefully into his twin's equal irises as he came out partly from under the covers into a sitting position, body still bare as he had yet to leave the bed that day.

"If you're really sorry, don't be absent again tomorrow. Do something," was the very direct reply.

More silence followed as they simply maintained their positions, until Hikaru's voice restarted the conversation. "Ne, Kaoru, don't you mind? Wouldn't you be jealous? I mean, you like Haruhi too, right?" He asked, almost afraid to look at the face identical to his, but still managing. He could have sworn a flicker of sadness resided there, but it was so fast, Hikaru dismissed the impression as a figment of his imagination.

"Yeah, I like her, but not that way. It's Tono you have to worry about. If she makes you happy, though, I'll be routing for you." The younger sibling answered with a serene smile.

"Thanks, Kaoru. I'll go take a shower, wanna come with me?" Hikaru invited with a Cheshire grin on his face as he got up from the bed, obviously now feeling a lot more confident.

"No, I'll… I've got homework to do and I want to eat something first, so you go on ahead."

"Oh. Then… wait for me. I won't be long. We'll do both together, as always, right?"

There was a brief and imperceptible hesitation before a smile and a word followed. "Sure."

The twins never really closed the bathroom doors if the other was outside it, only when both were in it; after all, they had no problems seeing one another undressed. This time, however, Kaoru noticed sadly that, if only just partially, his brother had barely left an opening to it… and a low voice was lost in their large bedroom. "But until when?"

* * *

The younger Hitachiin didn't hate Haruhi, not at all, but he did despise the fact that she could be what would break Hikaru and him. He liked her a lot, she was fun and different, but the fact that his older twin loved her over him was starting to progressively eat Kaoru inside. He wouldn't say it out loud, of course, but he'd suffer the pain alone, quietly.

As Hikaru started to cope better with his own feelings, he gradually started to spend more time with her, and unknowingly distanced himself from Kaoru. Naturally, the latter was extremely hurt by this attitude, but every time he'd try to talk to Hikaru about it, his brother's cat-like grin was stamped on the older redhead's face, obviously enjoying himself with the shorthaired girl. After a few unsuccessful tries with the same mute outcome, the younger twin accepted the fact and, little by little, started to let the two alone whenever he could.

The distance was new to him; they hadn't been apart since their births, not like that, but if it meant Hikaru's happiness, Kaoru was more than willing to live on with that aching pull in his chest… even if it hurt – and it did… a lot. Not because he was jealous of his brother, no. It hurt because he had realized long ago that he loved Hikaru, regardless of the fact that they were brothers or twins, even if they were both male; it just didn't matter to him. He loved his twin for what the latter was, and not for anything else. He couldn't change that fact, though he sometimes wished it were possible.

As his twin's relationship with Haruhi seemed to deepen day-by-day, Kaoru would always hide the pain, despite how much it grew and hurt his heart. Eventually, the seniors from his club noticed.

"Kao-chan, what's wrong?" Hani-senpai asked behind his pink bunny. "You don't look so well…"

"Correction," an icy voice interrupted, "you _haven't_ looked well these past few weeks. I wasn't going to say anything since your customer ratings hasn't decreased at all, but the president is starting to bug me about it."

"Tono has?" The distraught teen asked back.

"That's right, Kaoru. Papa has been very worried! Won't you tell us what's wrong?" Tamaki appeared suddenly, practically screaming in the redhead's face, but his voice was understanding and soothing.

The younger twin let go of some air he hadn't noticed cumulate in his throat. In an attempt to distract them, he asked the first thing that came to mind. "Where's Haruhi?"

And the blue-eyed second year student started crying on the floor. "Haruhi? Papa has been worried about her too! That girl is growing up; she doesn't want to be with her papa anymore! All she does is hang around with Hikaru all day, even in club activities! Oh what will papa do? Mama, say something!"

Kyouya remained silent as the blonde whined in a dark corner of the room, and was about to interfere when Kaoru got up and headed towards the door. "You're right, I'm not feeling very well, so I'll be going home. Thank you for your comprehension, bye-bye!" He said a little too energetically, making the others immediately notice the forced happiness and the false impishness the freshman was trying to display.

They barely had time to discuss it when Haruhi and Hikaru walked trough the same large doors minutes later. The two were deeply immersed in their conversation, but once they realized they had reached the clubroom, the girl immediately realized someone was missing. "Where's Kaoru?" She asked, the older twin's ears immediately picking up her question and noticing for the first time his brother's absence.

"Home." Mori-senpai answered shortly.

"He just went, Hikaru. Didn't you bump into him on your way here?" Tamaki asked, now properly standing once again.

Confused, he denied it, and Haruhi confirmed.

Kyouya's calculating voice was heard soon after. "He had to use the same way you two did to get here. You're coming from the library, right?"

The two nodded.

"And he has to get there in order to reach the front gates. That can only mean one thing: he avoided bumping into you and hid himself," the second-year concluded.

Surprised, the pair's eyes widened at such a statement and Hikaru laughed loudly soon after it. "Impossible, Kyouya-senpai! Why would Kaoru avoid me?"

"You tell us, Hikaru." Tamaki's lecturing voice asked. Said intimidated was about to reply, when a tug on his pants directed his eyes to the shorter blonde.

"Ne, Hika-chan, when was the last time you noticed Kao-chan?

"Huh?" The older twin asked, honestly confused.

Hani-senpai rephrased his question. "When was the last time you two actually spent time together?"

"We're always together! That's absurd!" He answered, eyebrows furrowing in minor irritation.

"No, you aren't. You've been avoiding him for a while now, Hikaru, haven't you noticed?" Tamaki asked, slightly accusing, purposely trying not to add Haruhi's participation in the situation.

"Kao-chan looked really sad. Did you two have a fight?" A pink plush toy with long ears asked him from below.

It dawned right then on Hikaru that, in fact, he hadn't seen a lot of his younger sibling lately, except when they were home. Only at that moment, though, did he seem to realize that all the smiles Kaoru had offered seemed forced and not at all as happy as they had always been when directed towards him.

Why hadn't he noticed that sooner? How come he had so easily dismissed signs that had always seemed to jump on him when they appeared before? When had he become blind to his brother's emotions?

It didn't take a split second more for Hikaru's feet to turn around and head out of the doors he had just walked through, one thought in his mind.

"Kaoru!"

* * *

At the Hitachiin residence, the younger twin had dropped himself on one of the white crafted chairs on his bedroom's porch. His eyes were gazing at the greenery of the backyard, but not seeing anything as his mind flew elsewhere, his thoughts running wild.

"_I like him."_

"_I love my brother."_

"_I'm madly in love with my own twin."_

"_I love it when he holds me, even when it's just an act."_

"_I love the feeling of his arms around my waist when we pretend we're lovers."_

"Hikaru." The younger twin murmured as he stood up and walked towards the balustrade. When a couple of birds flew around before him, he looked at them somewhat jealously for a moment, his amber irises following their flying forms until they dove under the balcony he was on. The young redhead leaned against the railing in an attempt to not lose the animals from his sight even below the veranda, standing at the tip of his toes absentmindedly.

At that exact instant, his mirrored half burst the doors open and ran through them. "Kaoru!" He shouted loudly, stopping right after to regain his breath, hands on his mildly bent knees and head down.

But the abrupt noise startled the leaning twin, who, surprised, reflexively turned towards his older sibling… and slipped.

Hikaru looked up when a sickening strident sound hit his ears, unexpectedly aware of the sudden absence of his younger brother, who had been standing at their veranda mere seconds before.

Silence surrounded him and fear took his soul as he approached the spot.

"KAORU!"

* * *

It seemed so unfair that he'd lost Kaoru in such a stupid way. Falling from the third floor veranda was not how he'd hoped any of them would die. Hikaru had pictured the two of them in a Romeo & Juliet scene, ending their lives in acts of love.

But it hadn't turned out that way. To the older redhead, his life had ended the moment he was separated from his brother. Oh, it hurt like hell, but what pained him most was the fact that he had spent the last of Kaoru's days ignoring his own twin, even if he had done it unconsciously. If he thought about it more, it could be said that Hikaru had killed the younger sibling, his precious twin. The ache he'd probably put his sweet and delicate brother through must have been unimaginable, climaxing with the total loss.

He looked at Kaoru's serene face as the rigid body lay in its coffin. Tamaki and Kyouya stood behind him as Hikaru was kneeling beside the grandiose wooden artwork. Haruhi and Hani-senpai were both sitting on either of Mori-senpai's arms and crying their eyes out onto his shoulders. The three standing students also housed looks of grief and moist eyes. In an attempt to comfort and offer support to the surviving teen, however, Tamaki was doing his best not to spill tears too.

All of them understood that the older sibling would never be the same again, because, although it was normal to grieve over the death of a loved one, it is generally a matter of time before the people left behind overcome the loss and resume their daily routines. However, they all knew how close the twins were, and such a relationship made it achingly obvious that Hikaru would never get over it in time to recover his own life.

Whenever he looked in a mirror, he would remember Kaoru.

If he looked at pictures, he'd see him. If the pictures were of the older brother only, the absence of the younger redhead would forever hurt the one who lived.

And if he decided never to see his or his sibling's image again – no pictures, no paintings, no videos, no mirrors or anything similar – Kaoru's smiling face would always be stamped in his heart to make sure he'd never forget…

… Or the painful expression Kaoru had worn seconds before he fell down the balcony would always follow the older redhead.

There was no way out. The Ouran Host Club would lose another member one way or the other. Hikaru's hopeless eyes as he stared at his twin's lifeless face were screaming mercy at them, warning the rest of the group that he wouldn't last without his other half.

They knew he would follow soon enough if let alone for one minute.

But for now, they let him grieve his loss and watched over the one who remained as the older twin nearly dehydrated, rivers of tears spilled like they never had before.

Hikaru cried until he thought there were was not an ounce of water left in him, but was soon surprised when more of the salty drops ran down his cheeks in streaming cascades. Looking up at his brother's pale expression, he mentally willed those eyes to open and stare back into his own, followed by the celestial smile he had always attached to them.

When no such thing happened, more tears dropped and a hesitant finger reached towards cold lips, tracing them gently and longingly. He wished that mouth would move and its owner's sweet voice to tell him this was nothing but a very bad nightmare, that there was nothing to be afraid of because he would wake up any moment and find himself laying on the same bed as Kaoru, as the twins often did.

"This is only a nightmare, Hikaru…"

"It's only a nightmare…"

"HIKARU!"

* * *

He woke up with a start, not sure why he had come around up so suddenly or why he had fallen asleep in the first place. Looking at his surroundings, Hikaru slowly put the pieces together.

Lightly colored walls. A large room, a large Ootori Hospital room, he realized. Ambulance. A fall. Who… Kaoru!

Eyes widening as he remembered, Hikaru looked at the bed his face had been resting on just seconds before, only to find his brother's still unmoving form. Since the moment his vision had laid on his brother's fallen form under their veranda, blood instantly pooling around the unconscious teen's head, everything else had passed as a blur… He could barely remember anything, but the older twin seemed to recall his own loud scream and the maids rushing to get help the moment they saw what happened. He had been carried with his brother and hadn't torn his eyes away until they restrained older redhead in the waiting room… literally.

Shortly later, the other Host Club members had shown up, and after a while they had all been allowed to Kaoru's room. The teen's head was heavily wrapped in bandages, but other than that, only a few scratches could be seen along his pale and mostly exposed body before the nurses covered him in pure white sheets, careful not to remove any of the many transparent IV tubes and monitoring wires attached to the comatose boy.

"If he wakes up, he'll live. It's a miracle nothing else happened, but he's not out of danger yet. That was a severe blow to his head and the traumatism could bring even worse consequences, even if he does wake up." The doctor had explained. As one of Kyouya's family's employees, his words could be trusted, but that didn't make things any easier on any of them, especially Hikaru.

"What are the possible consequences?" Haruhi asked between sobs, but the surgeon had only smiled sadly and avoided the question as he walked away.

"Let's wait and see if he wakes first, one problem at a time," the doctor had said, his words echoing in the private spacious room.

Hikaru broke down again as he kneeled besides his brother's bed, taking a pale hand in both of his and resting his forehead against the cool fingers. "It's all my fault!" He whispered, "All mine! Kaoru…" He cried. A hand was positioned on his shoulder - Tamaki's, he subconsciously recognized - there placed in an attempt to comfort, but managing nothing as it stood on the same spot for a long time.

Eventually, the others left the room, but the older sibling had practically moved into it, refusing to leave Kaoru's side for one moment, afraid he'd miss the younger twin's return.

And two weeks and a half went by, but Hikaru could still be found on the same spot. During the almost twenty days of silence, he hadn't felt bored as much as he felt lonely, even when Haruhi or anyone from their group, if not all, went by to visit. He spent the whole time looking at Kaoru's sleeping face, the pale expression haunting him even when the older teen blinked or occasionally fell asleep.

Every time he lost consciousness, he would dream the same thing, waking up haphazardly and crying as the vivid images of his nightmares would come back to replay over and over in his mind. Kaoru's voice screaming his name seemed so real! It would always wake him up, as if to protect him from worse images or further pain.

Like his twin had always silently done.

He didn't want to lose him, he'd do anything not to. He wordlessly prayed again and again every day for Kaoru to awake and this nightmare he was living to end.

"Kaoru, please don't leave me! I need _you _here, more than anything." He whispered, hands still clasping a pale one like the first day he'd entered the room. Except for bathroom emergencies, which he kept to a minimum, he hadn't let go once since then, not even to eat, which he refused to do due to lack of appetite, but the nurses caring for his twin occasionally managed to feed him some soup, the only thing keeping Hikaru from collapsing too. "Don't go…" He kept pleading.

Suddenly, there was a slight pressure in his hands, and the older brother's pulsation all but exploded up in hope, only to feel it fall limp again, the deafening sound of the charts displaying a straight line in one of the monitors.

Kaoru's heart had stopped beating.

The room immediately filled with white-clad people, some of them telling him to stand aside, others forcefully trying to pull him away once they saw he wasn't moving. Hikaru knew they wanted to distance the two siblings so as to avoid him standing in their way as they tried to make the frozen muscle pump again, and that he could really cause Kaoru's death if he intervened so egoistically, but something told him he'd never see his brother again if he released that hand. A quiet voice was telling him not to let go, the same one which had woken him up from his nightmares for the last few weeks.

But it sounded so weak now…

"Kaoru," he whispered, squeezing the hand in his own. "Don't go! Don't leave me!"

The doctors and nurses promptly gave up as they were running out of time, starting their revival routine despite the uncommon extra.

The unconscious body jumped a few times as the many professionals tried to bring the younger redhead back, but even Hikaru knew they were losing this battle, his fingers imperceptibly squeezing the dying twin's at the thought.

He would lose Kaoru, again, and, this time, forever.

"KAORU!" He shouted, and abruptly all his senses seemed to shut down one by one like the lights of a long corridor, but at an exceptionally fast speed. He lost awareness of his surroundings as his body acted on impulse, surprising all of the others present when Hikaru leaned forward, knocking away whoever had been occupying the spot, and softly covered the pale lips with his.

The doctors were so surprised, their minds became momentarily numb, bodies motionless, effectively letting the touch linger a little longer, and much to their amazement, a few moments later the monitor registered a heartbeat, then another… and another, until the rhythm stabilized once more.

When a hand rested on his shoulder, Hikaru immediately regained his senses and slowly parted with his twin's lips, but never released the still limp hand. Only when he heard the younger one breathing did the older sibling realize what he had done.

That was no CPR. He had kissed his brother. _Kissed_.

But why had it saved Kaoru when the medical procedures hadn't been enough? It was just a simple kiss, yet it had felt so good. Was this the taste of forbidden? His heart had never beaten that fast, a mixture of fear of loss and the happiness of touch. That was what Kaoru could do to him, and Hell damn Hikaru if he hadn't enjoyed it. As ashamed as he was to admit to himself, he had thoroughly appreciated the contact, despite the circumstances.

Why?

* * *

The doctors said he had almost lost his "little" brother, but for some reason, the kiss had brought Kaoru back. Some of them had given really weird looks towards Hikaru, if not disgusted, but it didn't matter. Neither he nor his twin had ever really cared for the opinions of anyone else except each other's, and especially now that he was the one who had saved his sibling's life, he couldn't care less.

The fact that Kaoru had yet to wake up the day after the incident started to get him worried once more, afraid he might face the same situation again. The very thought scared him and made Hikaru squeeze his brother's hand as if for comfort, ascertaining himself that the other was still there.

It took three more days until Kaoru finally woke up.

The older brother had been sleeping after two days of no rest, snoozing on a chair very closely placed – or better described as "practically glued" - beside the hospital bed.

Amber eyes opened slowly, blinking a few times to readjust to the light after a long period of darkness. Not recognizing his surroundings, the first thing that came to mind was a familiar face smiling devilishly; it always had been his first memory when he woke up. "Hi-Hikaru…" He whispered, a little bit scared, as he couldn't remember anything else except that name and face.

It took a few seconds for the boy to register that something warm was wrapped around his fingers, a presence he had felt continuously as if guiding him through the empty shadows. With a little movement, he spotted red hair by the side of his head, the owner of which was holding his hand.

He pulled it weakly since he hadn't recovered much strength yet, but it was enough to make whoever was beside him stir somewhat. With another faint pull, sleepy crystal brown irises rose and locked with his, Kaoru instantly matching the face in his mind with the one now before him. The pair of eyes staring at him doubled in size and suddenly their owner was wide-awake, arms wrapping around him tightly.

"Kaoru!" The other teen cried, in both readings.

His brain finally kicking in as he realized just who exactly was hugging him, it took the younger twin many more seconds to remember everything else, the memories returning in many consecutive and confusing flashes that came all at once, prompted by the comfortable warmth that seemed to flow into him from the strong arms that held his trembling body tightly. Immediately he returned the embrace as tears fell from both sets of eyes. "Hikaru!"

Many minutes later, Hikaru distanced himself and used his fingers to collect his twin's salty drops. "I'm sorry, Kaoru. This is my fault. We were supposed to be together all the time and I… I'm sorry."

It was the other's turn to remove the older sibling's tears. "It's fine, Hikaru, really. It wasn't your fault," he hushed. "It's not your fault you fell in love with Haruhi. We both knew something like this would happen sooner or later, and it's only natural to want to spend time with the person you like. I'll admit I was lonely, but I'll be fine as long as you don't ignore me completely… again…" he trailed off, unable to hold back the comment, but immediately regretting saying it when his eyes fell on his twin's reaction.

Eyebrows rising up in shameful remembrance, a pang of guilt visibly shot up through Hikaru's chest as he remembered that he had, in fact, though not purposely, entirely ignored Kaoru's existence. He wished the younger redhead would hit him so he could make up for it, as he was sure that if it had been him the one ignored, he would have felt as lonely as his brother had, therefore completely understanding what Kaoru had gone through before the accident. "I… I'm sorry," was all he could come up with. "Damn, I really feel low…"

The hospitalized teen gave a weak smile as if comforting, despite the circumstances. "I still love you, Hikaru, and… I forgive you. By the way, thanks for saving me. I felt you here beside me all this time, even if I had no idea where I was or what was happening. I could still feel your warmth, and it led me right back to you… because you never let go.

"Thank you," he said, slightly blushing before whispering the next words... "I wouldn't have lived without you..."

Hikaru was touched, and though they both knew either would do the same for the other, he still felt great joy in his younger brother's words… joy that came out as more tears.

"I'd never let go, Kaoru… not now, not ever."

"I know… I'd never let go either." He said, voice barely audible.

The older teen smiled, "I know you wouldn't."

**Owari!**

**A.N.: **OK, so I pity Kaoru dearly for this, but there's a different version of this fic on my _Mediaminer_ account, so hop over there _(address in warnings)_ if you'd rather some **HITACHIWINCEST** action! XD

Thanks for reading, regardless if you liked or not, reviewed or not. I appreciate the review(s) I get each time I post something, and any constructive criticism is also appreciated. Let's not lie to ourselves, when we get the reviews with people trying to help, we always feel kind of down for not being perfect, at first! But thanks to all the people who did it and will still do it!

**Syaoran-Lover KaiLi signing out!**


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